I was visiting a site of a tarot reader the other day, and decided to look through the "code of ethics" which seems to be so popular with folks who have "Tarot Certification" ( ).

And I noticed the standard "My readings are for entertainment only" disclaimer. Hmmm.

In fact, I did a search on google for "tarot" and the phrase "for entertainment purposes only" and received over 68,000 results.

Now, this struck me as a bit odd, because I'm familiar with this reader from years of watching her offer readings on AT, and I don't think that she believes that her readings are "for entertainment only" and this made me wonder why it is that, if people really believe that they can read the future with tarot cards, do they live in this "in-between" world?

On one hand, if I was a tarot reader, and I believed that I could read the future, and I was selling my services as such, I would be insulted to have to have "for entertainment purposes only" on my site or in my shop. HUH? I can only imagine that the reason for this is that there must be some sort of laws that people need to have this disclaimer to protect themselves. But this is ridiculous. If I could genuinely read the future, and I'm charging for this, I would be fighting these laws because they basically force me to state that I pretend that I do something that I actually do.

How is it that I can have preachers come on TV and tell me that they talk to Jesus, and can help me talk to Jesus if I just send them my money? Do tarot readers need to be a church before they can simply claim to do what they claim to do without having to pretend to pretend?

On the other hand, what if *I* am wrong, and the whole time I've been reading threads on tarot reading on AT and elsewhere, everyone else knew that it was "for entertainment purposes only", and I'm the only one who thought people were actually serious? If that's the case, maybe the signs need to be a bit bigger, and flashing, and people need to sign an agreement stating that they understand that they are paying money for entertainment and not for divination services?

There's the part of me that really wants this one way or the other. Either tarot readers read the future or they don't. If they do, then by golly, why aren't they fighting against having to pretend that they don't? If they don't actually read the future, then why are they pretending that they do? And shouldn't there be more than a little "Ethics" page hidden in a website to warn people what they are actually spending their money on?

So, is tarot reading "For entertainment purposes only"?

The Tarot will lose all its vitality for one who allows himself to be side-tracked by its pedantry. - Aleister Crowley

I think they do that just to cover their own asses, but I think they may resent having to do it, or at least some of them do, but still do so in order to cover their asses.

Myself, I am uneasy with the idea that someone might take my reading for them too seriously... I try to keep them abreast of the fact that I can barely read my way out of a paper bag, so to base any decision on what I may "see" in the cards would be

"...he wanted to illustrate with his figures many Moral teachings, and under some difficulty, to bite into bad and dangerous customs, & show how today many Actions are done without goodness and honesty, and are accomplished in ways that are contrary to duty and rightfulness."

I think on AT or other places where people do this for free nobody feels the need to put some disclaimer... no silver has passed the palm as it were.

Those televangelists that get money should probably use this disclaimer ... but we all know they are going to HELL!!!

The local preachers and weathermen don't get handed cash per se so maybe they are less at risk.

I never use this myself... but I do readings in person and have yet to have the law come down on me...perhaps if someone is selling readings online they are worried that local laws will apply somehow.

Of course, I never use any ethical code nonsense either. If someone worries they are sick, I tell them to go to a doctor regardless of what the cards say. Duh.

I laugh at the people who have these convoluted rules about not reading in specific situations...' oh no, I NEVER read for someone asking about their ex husband or whatnot' ... LOL... seriously it takes more time to write up some long decree about what you will not read about and why than the rare time someone would ask those types of questions. I think people who create these complex ethical statements are a bit enamored of themselves.

If I am reading for entertainment purposes only, you can bet I am reading for myself. I find tarot very entertaining.

You should never hesitate to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans.
Tom Robbins

robert wrote:
Now, this struck me as a bit odd, because I'm familiar with this reader from years of watching her offer readings on AT, and I don't think that she believes that her readings are "for entertainment only" and this made me wonder why it is that, if people really believe that they can read the future with tarot cards, do they live in this "in-between" world?

I think most people who pay for a tarot reading - or a palm or tea-leaf reading - also live in this "in-between" world.

The clients are not suckers - they are willing participants. If the card-reader used a gimmick or trick that "proved" they could read the future, or do magic, or whatever, then the client may be "sucked in", but otherwise, they are going into the reader's shop without any "hook" other than the will-to-believe (or not). They don't want their world black and white any more than the diviner does - the "in-betweeness" allows the client to suspend judgment on the value of the reading - if they like it or it moves them, then it worked. If they aren't convinced, they can say it was just a bunch of bullshit and forget about it.

In other words, I think that in the world of professional diviners, who actually advertise (the diviners for localized cultural groups ARE serious, and don't advertise), everybody already implicitly understands that it is a take-it-or-leave-it proposition, a lark or something fun, but hey, it might be true too, who knows? (wink, wink) - but the clause "for entertainment purposes only" is to defend against the small chance that somebody may really take it seriously and act on it to their detriment, which compels them to instigate a lawsuit.

This may be a new topic so sorry if I am in a bad thread place...however:

Does anyone here, that reads professionally, use an ethics statement..

By that, I don't mean an explanation of what to expect etc for new clients ...I mean more of a handed out or posted statement (or thesis) of what they will and will not read about and they whys etc etc.

I see them all over the net and I have to be honest they all seem a bit like, well, bullshit .... the ones I have seen are written as though the reader has such a high moral ground they cannot be sullied by certain questions...

You should never hesitate to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans.
Tom Robbins

The ‘For Entertainment Purposes Only’ disclaimer is intended to cover up any possible legal issue. It is specially directed to cover the reader since in many states fortunetelling is illegal, even when these laws are rarely enforced. You can go to jail for telling the future, but a person who is doing entertainment would be safe. As with any disclaimer associated with esoteric practices, the logic is that the client will disregard it anyway, but it is nice to have it “just in case”.

Now, I have seen that sign in a very few psychic parlors run by gypsies, but the disclaimer is more often used by cold-readers and people in the business of psychic entertainment. In other words, and although there may be exceptions, I take the disclaimer as a sign of a dishonest reader. (If the word ‘dishonest’ disturbs some people lets re-phrase and say ‘readers who aren’t totally committed to the truthfulness of their work ;) ). In a less critical note there are those readers who see what they do as theater: they play the part of a reader at a Ren-fest, private parties or psychic fairs, and therefore, the disclaimer seems to allude to some sort of histrionic flair in their readings.

I agree with you, Robert, in that the disclaimer shows a lack of compromise. Where I don’t feel comfortable is at automatically linking tarot to fortunetelling. I am not saying you have no reason to say that, you do, but I don’t feel comfortable with that.

For what is worth, I chose to become a tarot reader the day I understood that a beautiful life, for me, could consist on waking up in the morning and go to a place were I could look at these images all day long while sharing their beauty with other people. I envisioned that this routine could substitute my former life, in which I would share with people images I would personally make, as an artist. I have always being interested in how images work and I also have an enormous interest in people and their narratives, so, I thought that working as a tarot reader would be a better model for that beautiful life that just being an artist. Faced with that vision I immediately understood that I was stepping into very murky waters. So, more than a code of ethics I envisioned some sort of ‘aesthetic code’ to enable me to jump into tarot readings. That ‘code of aesthetics’ is very simple and consist on gaining a clear understanding of how readings really work, a sober understanding of the tarot real history and iconography, and the rejection of all the cliches associated with tarot readers and fortunetelling. The way I see it, tarot readings belong to the same realm of some other impoverished arts like magic, clowning or the circus, whose former glory vanished as their practitioners were unable to evolve into the aesthetic codes of modernity, but as Cirque Du Soleil has proven, these arts can be updated. That’s my belief.

A big amount of what transpires in a tarot reading is informed by the expectations people bring to the table and predicting the future is the main idea associated with the tarot. This means that, even when I am clear at stating that I can tell anybody’s future, I have accepted the fact that some people will end up giving me credit for things they think I predicted. That is, I believe, an unavoidable part of what constitutes the illusion of tarot. Even so, I am clear and upfront about the fact that I don’t predict the future nor I see -in the way tarot readings work- any evidence of how can this be accomplished. Same thing happens with quantitative questions regarding dates, amounts of money, age of a soulmate or lottery numbers. Thankfully, I am rarely asked for such things. I once read the tarot for an old woman -the right term I think would be a ‘hag’- who listened with attention to all I had to say and apologized afterwards for not being as deep as my reading was since she only wanted lottery numbers! I told her I had no way of getting that from tarot cards and she kept coming once a week for many months just to listen to what I had to say, without ever asking for lottery numbers again. This helped me seeing what I do as giving some sort of homilies. Everybody at some point need to be reminded of an essential message of trust in their own power of redemption.

Said that, building a clientele up has taken me a long time because I prefer to work with people who has no previous experience with the tarot and therefore no set expectations. I try to discourage those who entertain strong esoteric views from seeing me. In fact my ‘perfect’ client is the one who decides to come for a reading after he/she has been told that I am not a psychic and I don’t predict the future. Most of these people are often very cynical or jaded, but all of them belong to my same faith: more often than not they believe, or at the very least, they suspect, that art can inspire the better side of us.

A few weeks back a friend of mine came to NY. He is a master at drawing and writing but has been divorced from the visual arts for a while now. He went to the Metropolitan Museum and of all things, he became mesmerized by a small, almost insignificant, skecth made by Degás. “As I stood in front that drawing -my friend told me- I understood how all my life assembled itself so I was brought there, to that little drawing. That drawing gave me a sense of myself, and the courage to continue.”

His words reminded me of my favorite story about Henri Matisse. At some point, way before becoming a famous master, Matisse scraped as much money as he could and purchased a small Cezanne painting. Matisse hung the Cezanne up in his living room, where it spent the next 50 years. After all that time, Matisse donated the painting to a museum. In his speech for the occasion, he confessed that all these years this small painting had been his sanctuary, a place where he came back several times during his life to seek refuge, and be healed, and to gain focus every time he had a professional crisis. Looking at that painting, he saw everything clear again.

My friend’s words resemble those of Matisse almost word by word. They also resonate with my own expectations for the tarot, and with what I expect from my clients to be able to understand or experience. I am sure that makes me a snob, and that certainly limits the amount of clients I will ever had, but I won’t have it any other way.

Nicole wrote:
By that, I don't mean an explanation of what to expect etc for new clients ...I mean more of a handed out or posted statement (or thesis) of what they will and will not read about and they whys etc etc.

I think such things are useless. It would be better to listen to what the client brings as her concern/question and, in any case, reformulate it so it can be answered in an useful way.

Nicole wrote:
Does anyone here, that reads professionally, use an ethics statement..

By that, I don't mean an explanation of what to expect etc for new clients ...I mean more of a handed out or posted statement (or thesis) of what they will and will not read about and they whys etc etc.

I do. I read once a week in a local shop and I've got it on my page on their web site, and it's on the bulletin board near the door. I can't say anyone has ever read it. The shop also has a little notice somewhere that everything they do is for entertainment purposes only. It's legal cover.